Batting

The Plainsmen baseball team has concluded their season at the Region IX Tournament this past weekend. The men went into the tournament as the three seed, and set themselves up nicely to make a run for the Region title. In order to win the whole thing, they would have to win three in a row. If they would happen to drop one, they were still able to work their way back being it was a double elimination bracket; it would just be more games they would have to win.

The first opponent they would face would be the Lamar Lopes. The Plainsmen have had a rough go at it this season against Lamar, as each time they lost to them was either by a slim margin, or one inning would be a big for the Lopes. With the men locking in for postseason, this game was going to be different. The first three innings would consist of both teams matching each other run for run, making it a 2-2 ballgame. In the top of six, the Plainsmen would add two runs and then one other in the seventh to take a 5-2 lead. To top it off, Northeastern would add two more in the top of eight to make it a 7-2 game. The men would stay solid defensively to keep Lamar at bay and win the game with a score of 7-2.

The next game would be against the tournament host, Trinidad State Trojans. Coming off a solid win, the Plainsmen were ready to play against the Trojans. In the top of one, NJC would start it off by taking the one run lead, but Trinidad would counter it by scoring four in the bottom half of the inning to take the 4-1 lead. The game would go scoreless until the bottom of four when the Trojans would extend their lead by two before Northeastern would get one back in the top of six. With the score now 6-2, the Plainsmen were trying to get men around the bases, but were unsuccessful, whereas the Trojans would get one un the seventh and two in the eighth to make it a 9-2 ballgame. The Plainsmen would try to make one last run at it and were able to get one run in, but could not get any more as the inning was retired and the game would end in a 9-3 loss.

That loss was not the end of the tournament, as now they had to play from the bottom side, which just meant they had to win more games. Their game would be against Lamar again, which would be another battle. This time, the result was not what they had wanted. The Plainsmen would battle at the plate, but could not get the timely hits in which they needed, and would fall to Lamar with a 10-0 score.

The Plainsmen would end their season at the Region IX tournament and finish with a 20-16 conference record. The men did a fantastic job at protecting their home field and would have a record of 21-4 at Plainsmen Park. Congratulations to the Plainsmen on their season and good luck to the sophomores in their future endeavors.